🧵 How ISI funded the “Peshawar Seven” & how that project ultimately birthed the Taliban:
1979: After the Soviet invasion, the U.S. & Saudi Arabia funneled billions in covert aid. All of it went through ISI, giving the Army control over who fought — and who thrived.
ISI handpicked 7 Islamist factions, later called the “Peshawar Seven.”
•Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Hizb-e Islami)
•Younis Khalis (Hizb-e Islami)
•Burhanuddin Rabbani / Ahmad Shah Massoud (Jamiat)
•Abdul Rasul Sayyaf (Ittehad)
•Nabi Muhammadi (Harakat)
•Pir Gailani (Mahaz)
•Sebghatullah Mojaddedi (Jabha)
Among them, ISI’s star proxy was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He got the lion’s share of U.S. Stinger missiles, cash & training. CIA officers complained, but ISI insisted Hekmatyar was “the future of Kabul.”
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1979: After the Soviet invasion, the U.S. & Saudi Arabia funneled billions in covert aid. All of it went through ISI, giving the Army control over who fought — and who thrived.
ISI handpicked 7 Islamist factions, later called the “Peshawar Seven.”
•Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Hizb-e Islami)
•Younis Khalis (Hizb-e Islami)
•Burhanuddin Rabbani / Ahmad Shah Massoud (Jamiat)
•Abdul Rasul Sayyaf (Ittehad)
•Nabi Muhammadi (Harakat)
•Pir Gailani (Mahaz)
•Sebghatullah Mojaddedi (Jabha)
Among them, ISI’s star proxy was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He got the lion’s share of U.S. Stinger missiles, cash & training. CIA officers complained, but ISI insisted Hekmatyar was “the future of Kabul.”
1/3
Others got less: Sayyaf had Saudi links, Rabbani/Massoud were tolerated but distrusted, and the royalists (Gailani & Mojaddedi) were kept weak. Pakistan Army wanted a fragmented but dependent resistance in Afghanistan
When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, ISI bet everything on Hekmatyar to seize Kabul. Instead, civil war erupted. Rabbani & Massoud held the city, Hekmatyar on orders of ISI shelled it, and 50,000 innocent civilians died in the crossfire. For this reason, Hikmatyar is known as “Butcher of Kabul”
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When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, ISI bet everything on Hekmatyar to seize Kabul. Instead, civil war erupted. Rabbani & Massoud held the city, Hekmatyar on orders of ISI shelled it, and 50,000 innocent civilians died in the crossfire. For this reason, Hikmatyar is known as “Butcher of Kabul”
2/3
By 1992–94, ISI’s project was failing. Their proxies couldn’t unite or govern. Kabul was rubble, and Pakistan’s dream of a loyal Afghan government slipped away.
Then, in 1994, the Taliban emerged in Kandahar: young madrassa fighters promising order. ISI, disillusioned with the Seven, pivoted. They armed, trained & financed the Taliban instead.
And by 1996, with ISI’s safe havens, fuel convoys, and weapons, the Taliban captured Kabul. Pakistan had gone from backing 7 factions → to creating one client regime.
3/3
Then, in 1994, the Taliban emerged in Kandahar: young madrassa fighters promising order. ISI, disillusioned with the Seven, pivoted. They armed, trained & financed the Taliban instead.
And by 1996, with ISI’s safe havens, fuel convoys, and weapons, the Taliban captured Kabul. Pakistan had gone from backing 7 factions → to creating one client regime.
3/3
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